A Gothic basilica suspended inside an Andean gorge
The Santuario de Las Lajas is a neo-Gothic basilica built directly into the walls of a deep gorge carved by the Guáitara River, 7km from the Ecuador border. The current structure — completed in 1949 after 33 years of construction — rises on a bridge spanning the canyon, with the church nave occupying the cliff face. The site of a reported Marian apparition in 1754, it now draws 300,000 pilgrims a year to 2,600 metres altitude in Nariño.
According to local tradition, a Mestiza woman took shelter from a storm in this gorge in 1754 and encountered a vision of the Virgin Mary with the indigenous child Rosa, who had been mute from birth and spoke for the first time. A small chapel was built in the gorge shortly after; the current Gothic Revival structure was designed by architect Lucindo Espinosa and built between 1916 and 1949 over the original apparition site.